The Russellville Democrat., 1887-08-24

| ATLANTA'S HAPPY STATE.
| why Her Business Men Have
| Had a Very Merry Christmas.
The letter below was written 70 q
] PROMINENT wholesale grocer and
| by him, with the consent Of the
| writer, was transmitted to US for
publication.
G. WALDO SMITH, New York.
| Dear Sir:--In response to your
letter Of inquiry, ] take pleasure in
giving you the following statements
every one OF which Is susceptible
Of the most abundant proof.
l was not an original Prohibition
ist and did not vote for the ordin-
ance In the election Of 1885. In the
| light OF subsequent events, ! am
very glad to say, however, that !
did not vote against it. was as ]
have long been, an anti-room man,
but / seriously doubted whether
Prohibition was the best method to
be adopted in city of thu size OF
| atlanta, and, in common with many
others holding similar views, |
abstained from voting.
Prohibition was carried and many
of our best men trembled for the
business iutcstests OF our city.
That gas year ago, aud through
actual Prohibition did not take
place until July last, yet the effect
upon the city began with the declara-
tion OF the circulation of the vote.
The defeated "Antis" at once began
the circulation of the most damaging
reports.
Notwithstanding the fact that
these reports have been over and ov
er denied and proven to been mali
ciously false and slanderous, yet they
are repeated again and again.
Now for the facts.
The charge that large number of
business men have removed to other
cities, carrying with them two or
three millions of capital, is the
grossest kind OF exaggeration. /
have been q constant resident OF
Atlanta for nearly seventeen years
and know the city well. Since the
receipt of your letter, have made
diligent inquiry amongst members
of the Chamber of Commerce and
leading bankers and others, and be-
/ ieve it is strictly true that not q
single prominent business man has
removed his residence from the city
since Prohibition.
I'd. The charge that hundreds Of
the best business blocks in the city
are tenantless, and that city proper
tY has greatly deteriorated in value,
is wholly untrue. OF the houses
formerly occupied by wholesale
liquor dealers, not one is vacant.
Or those used for bar-rooms, IN the
business portion Of the city, only one
is now vacant and that is little
store 20x4O feet.
OF all the places formerly used for
bar rooms in all parts OF the city,
not over fourteen are now vacant,
and most OF those are cheap, wooden
structures, many of them built for
the purpose upon side streets, or up
on the outskirts of the city. After
free consultationwith leading archit-
ects and builders, and with the prin
cipal renting agents of the city, /
make the statement that for every
really tenantable building in this
city now vacant, two new ones have
been erected since Prohibition. The
principal renting agents all endorse
my statment, and futher declare that
at no time within the past five years
have their rent lists OF desirable
houses been smaller than they are
now. They also say that of the new
houses have been and are being
built, nearly every one is rented be-
fore it is completed.
The above statements are made
and concurred in by such we'll
known real estate operators as G.
w. Adair, Frierson & Scott. s.
Goode, <. M. Roberts, Rice & Will
son, j, C. Hendrix and Smith 4
Dallas. In the judgement of these
agents there are not TO day, Of all
sorts, over 200 houses vacant in the
entire city, and of these not over 100
that would rent for $500 per
month, and most of these 100 have
been vacated to take possession Of
new and better house. Mr.. Rice
Wilson, told me that he has house
that rents for $4,000. He was in
formed by his tenant that he had
bought new house and would va
cate the first of the month. Mr..
Rice inserted brief advertisement
In Sundays paper, and on Monday
morning had nineteen applications
for the house. Many other instanc-
es might be mentioned to show the
the demand for this class of houses.
In this connection another Import
ant fact should be stated OF the
Al